Greg Peterson–self-promoting glad-hander, best friend to a whole slew of Republican Big Name politicians, host of many GOP fundraisers in Utah, and vicious serial rapist–has decided to spare his victims the additional trauma of going through court proceedings, as he has apparently died in the same cabin in Heber, Utah where several of the rapes were said to have taken place. Of course, by choosing suicide, he also denied his victims their day in court.

After Peterson missed an appointment with his attorneys after being released on bail, Wasatch County, Utah sheriff’s officials were dispatched and found Peterson dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Peterson, 37, was charged by authorities this July and was facing 25 charges of assault, rape and kidnapping. He apparently met his victims on Facebook, at church functions, and on Mormon dating websites. (Thump And Whip claims that the charges were “nine counts of forcible sexual abuse, seven counts of rape, three counts of object rape, two counts of aggravated kidnapping, forcible sodomy, assault, burglary and sexual battery.” So, there’s that. Make of it what you will.)

One Peterson Facebook invitation allegedly read: “Tell guard at gate that u r guests of Greg Peterson’s Moose Lodge on Witts Lake. Doesn’t that make you feel special? It should.”

Peterson at his Rape Cabin

Ryan J. Reilly of TPM Muckraker reports that four of the attacks are said to have taken place in March, July and December in 2011 and April 2012; the time a fifth attack took place has not been made clear. One victim, a (Mormon) church acquaintance, says Peterson forced her inside his cabin after telling her he had a gun. Four of the victims testified that Peterson had fondled them over their clothing without their consent.

Four separate times, prosecutors say, Gregory Peterson lured women under the pretext of a movie or lunch — and sexually assaulted them. He kept one captive in his mother’s house for several days, they said. He threatened to report another, whose visa had expired, for deportation, charging documents alleged. And in each case, authorities said, he forced the women to engage in sex acts by pointing to guns he possessed. […]

The first woman, identified only as S.M., described meeting Peterson at a church event in March 2011 and agreeing to go to a movie with him. Instead of going to the theater, she said, he drove her to his cabin, assaulting her both on the drive and during the night. The woman said she was scared because there were weapons both in the car and in his cabin. Peterson drove her back to her car the next morning, she said.

The other women said they met Peterson online. One said Peterson asked her to dinner in July 2011 but instead drove her to his cabin, sexually assaulting her on the way and through the night. She said he talked about her expired visa and threatened to deport her. Peterson then drove her to his mother’s house and kept her there for three days before driving her home and assaulting her again, she said. […]

A bail bondsman found Peterson in his Wasatch County cabin Tuesday evening while checking on him because his ankle monitor signal was getting weak, Sheriff Todd Bonner said.

Peterson claimed to have an MBA in Finance from Brigham Young University, and also claimed that he was a certified financial planner who owned an Orem-based wealth management company and an online trading website.

Was this taken during the Summer Games, perchance? Hmm. I also like how his Facebook avatar has Romney in it.

Republicans are busily trying to play down Peterson’s connections with many prominent GOP politicians, one in particular: Mitt Romney.

Peterson has billed himself online as a “close personal friend of the Romney family,” and posted video on Youtube of Romney speaking at a 2007 fundraiser at Romney’s home in Deer Valley. He contributed $2,300 to the Romney campaign that year. In addition, he posted several photos of himself and Romney on his Facebook page.

But Chaffetz, who said he has been at most of the Romney events in Utah over the last few years, said he never saw Peterson at any of them. “I seriously doubt” he is close with the Romneys, Chaffetz said. Peterson did attend a national call day in Las Vegas, where supporters were invited to come and make phone calls for the Romney campaign, Chaffetz said.

Oh, would that be Republican Representative Jason Chaffetz? The one shown here at Peterson’s cabin taking a picture with Peterson?

Picture from “Thump And Whip” website

Chaffetz (R-UT) may “doubt” that Peterson was “close” to the Romneys (R-Oligarchistan), but Mitt Romney and Peterson have socialized at several VIP GOP events and fundraisers–including the Rocky Mountain Conservatives Convention and Barbecue held at his cabin–and Peterson had co-chaired a fundraiser specifically in honor of Romney as well.

Last year we mingled with Senator Mike Lee & Tim Bridgewater after a closely contested primary. We were also joined by Carl Wimmer of The Patrick Henry Caucus, Rep. Craig Frank, Rep. Curtis Oda, Rep. John Dougall, Megablogger now Rep. Holly Richardson, Cherilyn Eagar, Morgan Philpot, who nearly knocked off our nemesis Jim Matheson, the one and only Victor Shanti, and basically every other Conservative activist in Utah.

Attendee Julie Harmon posted 145 photos on SmugMug, if you want to see how prominent Republicans partied down at the Rape Cabin with Peterson.

Greg Peterson, a close personal friend of the Romney family, discusses why liberty loving Latter-day Saints should support Mitt Romney for president. Greg expounds upon the fundamental principles Mitt will adhere to when making presidential decisions. Jeremy and JC question Greg on Mitt’s stance on key issues including government health care, income taxes, abortion, immigration, undeclared wars, the American empire, social security and the Federal Reserve.

Ain’t no party like a GOP party, ’cause a GOP party’s got freaks! (…Say what?)

The rush by Republican politicians to disavow any and all connection to or friendship with Peterson has been swift. Loop21’s Nadra Kareem Nittle reports:

Utah lawmakers are distancing themselves from the fundraiser. A spokesman for Sen. Mike Lee, Brian Phillips, is downplaying the idea that the legislator is a friend of Peterson after photos and videos of the men at Peterson’s cabin turned up online on Thursday. Phillips said the relationship between the two men is professional. Moreover, he says that the senator and his staff are concerned for the victims of Peterson’s alleged attacks.

Prominent Utah politicians Peterson hosted include U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, Gov. Gary Herbert, U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz and others. […] While Peterson has been involved in state politics and events, Utah Republican Chairman Thomas Wright has said he never held a leadership role or raised or donated money for the state party. Some considered Peterson a self-styled Tea Party operative.

On his Facebook page, Peterson claim[ed] to be good friends with the Romney family and that he attended Brigham Young University with Josh Romney, the presidential candidate’s youngest son. He posted photos of himself with Mitt Romney and Josh Romney on Facebook. […]

In local Republican circles, Peterson apparently played the role of a wealthy conservative politico who claimed to have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for GOP candidates. […]

Utah Tea Party leader and former gubernatorial candidate David Kirkham described Peterson as “exuberant” in his political opinions. Peterson wrote a blog called the Conservative Moose and was prolific on Facebook. “He was kind of a familiar face to many people,” Kirkham said. […]

Peterson billed this past May’s conference as “the CPAC of the West,” a reference to the national Conservative Political Action Committee that draws thousands of activists to Washington, D.C., each year. The agenda included GOP attorney general candidates John Swallow and Sean Reyes in a Lincoln/Douglas-style debate at Wasatch High School. A barbecue featuring wild elk and a golf-into-the-lake contest followed at the cabin.

Utah’s Democratic Party Chairman Jim Dabakis said that he hoped that Republicans would denounce the sexual assaults and ban Peterson from future events. Since Peterson has made the choice for them, the GOP will now not have to choose between the riskiness of being seen associating with Peterson (and his legal problems) again and turning down someone offering to raise a truckload of money for them. I’m sure it would have been a hard choice.

I assume that none of Peterson’s victims got pregnant from the assaults, because otherwise Peterson’s GOP buddies would be all up in the women’s personal business telling them that they should see Peterson’s attacks and the resulting pregnancies as “gifts from God,” and then they’d try to prevent them from getting abortions if they wanted them.

Also, as Thump And Whip writer tomasays: “If a vicious violent lunatic rapist had been photographed with Obama, Pelosi and Franks, the conservative blogosphere would wallpaper the internet. But this is just another Republican. I think we’ve all grown used to the freaks being freaks.”

Now, enjoy a lovely photo album, full of Peterson and his Republican buddies:

Photo from Thump And Whip

Photo from Thump And Whip

Peterson with Mitt Romney at Peterson’s cabin

Peterson and Romney

Sen. Mike Lee and Gov. Gary Herbert at Peterson’s cabin

Peterson with Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)

Peterson with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), the senior United States Senator for Utah

Romney palling around with Peterson AGAIN

Peterson describing the above photo showing him with Romney (KSL.com)

Oh, look. It’s another picture of Mitt Romney with his pal Greg Peterson.

Last May, a 17-year-old girl, seven months pregnant, paid a man $150 to beat her up in hopes of inducing a miscarriage. The fetus survived the assault and was born in August. The attacker went to jail. And the girl became the center of a bill that would formally criminalize what she did, that is, to seek an illegal abortion.

Gov. Herbert has said he agrees generally with the bills goals but is still studying the particulars: Utah would still allow legal abortions performed by a doctor. But it would go further than any other state in mapping out when a woman is criminally liable for trying to end a pregnancy through other means or self-infliction.

Critics say legislation inspired by an unusual, perhaps even freakish criminal case, could open up a vast frontier around the question of intent and responsibility and give local prosecutors huge new powers to inquire about a woman’s intentions toward her unborn child. [Gov. Herbert vetoed the bill on March 8, 2010].